13 Facts About Ancient Rome That Continue to Catch Our Attention Today

We know a bit of the history of ancient Rome from school. But since the facts were not really entertaining, we decided to correct this unfortunate omission with the help of this article.

In order for a woman to get rights, she had to either have 3 children in marriage, or stay away from men at all.

A woman could become independent only by agreeing not to have relationships with men for 30 years, i.e. by becoming a vestal, a priestess of the goddess Vesta. At the same time, girls were selected to become vestals at an early age. Vestal women had quite broad rights: they could have property, receive a pension, testify in court and even pardon the condemned. But if a vestal sinned with a man, she was punished by a painful execution.

There was another way for a woman in ancient Rome to obtain certain freedom. For this, she had to give birth to at least 3 children in marriage. This married patrician woman had the right to inherit property and got rid of the guardianship of a male relative. But this law was in force only for a short period: from the 1st century BC to the 1st century, and only because the population of the Roman upper class was decreasing, although the overall number of Roman citizens was increasing.

The Romans wanted to be fragrant both inside and outside.

The ancient Romans not only applied perfume to their skin, but also sprayed it on their guests from the walls of their villas. And in order to smell as good inside as outside, some even drank perfume. In addition, by rubbing or spraying perfume on the skin, people treated various diseases from stomach upset to fever.

Women dyed their hair with leeches and worms.

A Roman woman found it disgraceful to wear curls of natural color: only barbarians did so. Therefore, decent women would sit for hours while getting elaborate hairstyles.

In addition, Roman women dyed their hair in many ways, using henna and saffron for a golden hue. But beautiful black hair was obtained with the help of a very specific potion: leeches were soaked in vinegar for several months, and then this mixture was applied to the locks. Equally unpleasant was the procedure of coloring of gray hair, which was covered overnight with a mixture of earthworms and herbs.

They used fake doors in the interiors of their homes.

The fresco of a false door in the villa of Gaius Poppaeus Sabinus

We like to make rooms in our homes visually larger by using mirrors. The ancient Romans did a similar thing, but they made their villas appear larger by using false doors that were painted on the walls. These doors and false columns also served another purpose: they created symmetry in the rooms by balancing the real doors and columns.

Children stayed with the father after divorce.

Divorce in ancient Rome wasn’t difficult. But after divorce, a woman couldn’t claim her own children: they belonged to the father. And if he died, the children were given to the nearest male relative of the father.

A father’s rights over his children were so great in ancient Rome that a woman, even when she married, remained under her father’s control, and her husband had no legal authority over her — and this gave women of that time certain freedom.

At times, the Colosseum was a swimming pool.

A naumachia, a mock naval battle, was a popular entertainment for Roman emperors. Naumachias were held in pools, lakes, or buildings. Emperor Domitian in 89 held this performance in the Colosseum, filling the arena with water; Emperor Titus also held a naumachia in it. This event was shown in the movie Gladiator II.

Both men and women were getting rid of body hair.

Some Roman men and women got rid of unwanted body hair in a rather harsh way, by plucking it with tweezers. This was done either in baths or in hairdressing salons. Men were quite willing to get rid of hair in the armpits, but only women removed hair from the legs. Ears were cleaned with a device similar to a spatula or scoop.

In addition, most men over 20 shaved every day, and usually grew a beard only after traumatic life events.

They taught children literacy in a creative way.

You might think that learning literacy at that time, children only had to tediously draw letters with a stylus on a clay or wax tablet. But it was not uncommon for teachers to be creative.

When children learned the alphabet, they were given sweets in the shape of the letter they were learning. Roman children also had letters made of ivory, which also helped them memorize the shapes and names of letters. In addition, to memorize the rules of addition and letters, children sang songs and learned poems, which, however, Cicero recalled without any pleasure.

There was described another creative approach to learning. The son of Herodes Atticus couldn't memorize the alphabet, so his father brought him 24 slaves whose initials corresponded to the 24 letters of the alphabet.

Waiting until the end of the week was harder, as there were 8 days in the week.

The Roman calendar before it was changed by Julius Caesar.

The ancient Romans had 7 working days and only one day off, a market day called nundinae. During the nundinae, farmers and craftsmen from the regions of Rome took a break from their regular work and brought their products to sell at the market. Romans and their slaves shopped for the coming week, and children and teenagers took a break from school. It was also a time for public entertainment and dinner parties.

Women were gladiators, too.

Although gladiators were often slaves or criminals, there were also cases when freeborn people could perform in the arena. And, because the public liked surprises, the fights were made in the most spectacular way: sometimes a gladiator could appear on a chariot or use a lasso.

The appearance of female gladiators in the arena wasn't a frequent thing, and therefore the show became even more exciting. A carving was found in Halicarnassus that depicted 2 women in gladiatorial gear. However, the performance of women was still too scandalous for the times, so in the year 200, Emperor Septimius Severus banned their fights.

Women loved pearls and wore earrings so heavy that their earlobes couldn’t hold them.

The passion for pearls in ancient Rome was akin to the modern fascination with diamonds. The Roman writer Martial described a woman who went even further than Marilyn Monroe, who claimed that the best friends of girls were diamonds. This woman prayed to her pearls instead of the gods, called them her brothers and sisters and, according to the writer, even loved them more than her own children.

Only noble women could afford earrings with pearls, which cost a fortune. And they often wore such heavy earrings that their earlobes became inflamed. This was apparently so widespread that there was even a separate specialty of women hairdressers who dealt with inflamed earlobes.

The Romans read texts out loud even if there were alone.

The original texts in Latin, as well as in Ancient Greek, had no spaces, punctuation marks or capital letters. Only in 600-700 A.D., monks who studied ancient Latin texts began to introduce spaces in order to improve the reading experience. This is why reading was more difficult and time-consuming for the ancient Romans than it is for us, and they had to read out loud to get the meaning right.

Hairdressing was a lucrative business.

Roman hairdressers not only cut and styled their clients' hair, but also did manicures, plucked excess body hair and cut corns. As for gray hair, hairdressers simply plucked it out if it wasn't too numerous. Some hairdressers earned so well that they kept 20 slaves and 20 horses.

And here are some more fascinating facts about ancient Rome.